JUNE 21, 2000

FIA announce technical regulation changes for 2001 season

Formula One's governing body, the FIA, have announced several new technical regulations that all teams must adhere to in the 2001 season.

A Formula One Technical working group has liased with the 11 teams to devise eight main new regulations for next season.

One regulation is that the front wing of all Formula One cars must be 50 millimetres higher. This will alter the aerodynamics and downforce of the cars.

In terms of safety, the roll tests that were brought in last year must now comply to four times the loads of 2000 tests. This could provide a problem for teams like Sauber and Prost, who failed to pass the FIA's roll tests at the first attempt before the current season.

In order to prevent a wheel separating itself from a car and endangering the crowd and other drivers, the FIA have also ruled that wheels must be connected to the car by two cables instead of one.

To aid taller drivers, the cockpit opening must also be larger and further back from the front wheels, and the back of the seat must be referenced to the headrest and the cockpit opening.

The other regulations require teams to have larger internal cockpit cross sections to help fit in a further 25 millimetres of foam padding around the drivers legs. The driver's seat fixings must be standardised so that they can all be removed by the same tool.